Cattle Complex Is In The Dog Days of Summer

An article on DTN/Progressive Farmer

If it feels as though the dog days of summer came out of nowhere, hitting the cattle complex head-on right before the big Fourth of July holiday -- your feeling is 100% accurate.

Aside from the miserable heat wave overtaking much of the U.S., the market has also felt the seasonal pressure of the commonly referred to "dog days of summer."

It's not uncommon for the cattle complex to feel pressured following the Fourth of July, as that's typically when boxed beef prices soften, supplies of fed cattle increase and affect the fed cash cattle market. Consequently, all these factors can negatively affect the feeder cattle market, even though supplies remain historically low. And following last week's deterioration of the market -- to the point where both the live cattle and feeder cattle contracts sank below their 100-day and 40-day moving averages -- expect the market to be cautious moving forward, as recovering positions above those thresholds is no easy task.

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